Approximately 40 students gathered to protest the absence of an Asian American Studies program at Tufts yesterday during the open block. The protest began and ended at Ballou Hall.
Protestors began by holding signs and chanting on the steps of Ballou. From their spot on the academic quad, the group eventually marched downhill, through the Mayer Campus Center, around the bookstore, past the Tisch Library and back up to Ballou.
Many of the student protestors were members of the Asian American Curriculum Transformation (AACT) project. Established in 2001, the main purpose of the AACT is to create an Asian American Studies department at the University.
According to sophomore Ivy Cheng, one of the organizers of the protest, the representatives wanted a promise from the University to get a tenure-track or senior Asian American studies professor at Tufts. Cheng said the group spoke informally with University Provost Jamshed Bharucha but he denied its request for a full-time professor.
Protestors wore pale blue ribbons on their arms and carried signs reading slogans such as "Tufts Only Has 3 Asian American Courses" and "Asian American Studies Now," as well as some more volatile messages, such as "IR: Institutionalized Racism."
A revolving shift of student leaders led the crowd in chants with a bullhorn. The most common cry was "What do we want?" - "Asian-American Studies!" "When do we want it?" - "Now!" and "What do we need?" - "Administrative Accountability!"
Sophomore Jae Cho was one of the participants in the march. Cho said he was motivated to participate because he is taking a class in Korean History which, he said, is going to be shut down due to lack of funding (related story, page 2). He said an Asian American Studies program would bring "a form of diversity for an internationally-focused campus."
Some non-Tufts individuals were present at the protest as well. A handful of students from neighboring Wellesley College and Harvard University participated in the march. Professor Andrew Leong of the University of Massachusetts Boston, which has an Asian American Studies Program, also marched.
"It really would behoove Tufts [to have an Asian-American Studies program]" he said. "If you look around the country, other schools have specialists in Asian American studies."
University administrators were not available for comment on the march at press time.
- by Kelly McAnerney
see the correction for this article here
